M and A watch--Kiddicare, 
N Brown, 
The Hut Group

The direct-selling sector continues to be a hive of M&A activity, with more acquisitions taking place over the last few weeks.

Among the largest deals recently was Morrisons’ £70 million acquisition of nursery products etailer Kiddicare, announced on 15th February. The acquisition is part of Morrisons’ plan to grab a share of the multichannel space and includes the rights to use Kiddicare’s online technology platform. In a statement, Morrisons said this was the “first step in developing Morrisons’ online business”, with the supermarket expecting to start selling online next year.

Kiddicare will continue to be run as a separate entity with Scott and Elaine Weavers-Wright at its helm. Kiddicare’s turnover for the full fiscal year 2010 was £37.5 million, having grown 75 percent in the last three years.

N Brown Group, via its subsidiary JD Williams, announced on 21st January it was acquiring the Slimma and Splendour brands from Slimma plc for £800,000. N Brown already stocks Slimma products within its JD Williams and Julipa titles. Splendour is a staple lingerie brand within Figleaves and Simply Be. The transaction is conditional upon Slimma plc changing its registered name to CDU plc.

Also on the acquisition trail was The Hut Group, owner of Lookfantastic and Mankind, which bought collapsed beauty products etailer HQ Hair on 17th January. The Hut acquired the HQ Hair domain and trademark from the administrator, but no stock, employees, or any other assets were bought, nor did any liabilities transfer over, confirmed Sarah Jasper, head of business development at The Hut Group.

On 28th January, shoe retailer Jones Bootmaker was bought by Dutch firm Macintosh Retail Group, which also owns footwear chain Brantano. Following the deal, Jones Bootmaker aims to increase its retail presence by opening 15 new stores in the UK over the next two to three years. Further, a new website will go live this year to capitalise on online growth and a separate distribution centre for online sales will open soon.